This blog is about the KCCD2009 (King Croesus Contempt for Death) Trip and it's preparations. The journey will be performed on 2x 1939 Nimbus motorcycles with sidecars and ETD is April 2009. ETA is unknown, as you never know if it's a Sweet Chariot or an Infernal Machine you ride.

All countries in the world have got small spots on the map, the small towns outsiders never heard about, never been mentioned in guide books, never been hosts to any heroes or boring statues. These spots could just as well been a fly sitting on the map, but in fact it isn’t flies. In some cases though, places like this can be the home of some really great people that makes the town more than worth dropping by.

Svobodniy is indeed one of these towns, thanks to Sergej and some other bikers. We had gotten in touch with Sergej through the Professor which was doing the jump-trail from Vladivostok to Chita with some kangaroos as mentioned before. As also mentioned before (it’s great to repeat yourself because the blog get longer and you boost the theory that empty barrels make the most noise), my frame had cracked and Svobodniy was the place to get it repaired.

Sergej is the local motorcycle guru, and he’s damn good. He’s not only damned good, he’s also damned helpful, which is actually a good combination when you need help. What you too often see are people that are either very good, or very helpful, which can be very fatal especially when it’s the latter type.

Anyhow, Sergej and another biker, Jura from the criminal police, so to speak Svobodniy CSI, met us at the city border. Sergej found a translator and we agreed that he’d fix the frame the day after and we’d rather spend this day in his home where also could sleep. A little later another biker showed up, Vova. He worked in the local morgue and kept up the good work where the doctors didn’t have the guts to go on. While drinking vodka that day we used the Norwegian term “Skål” (“Cheers!”) instead of “Nastaroviya” (“For health!”), as Nastaroviya did not sound too good for Vovas business. It was really a cheerful night with great people that qualified Svobodniy to a great town.

As promised Sergej fixed the frame the day after and did a good job. He also called the local press upon our departure, and both TV and the local paper showed up. Not sure what came out of it after the translation was done, but I dare to bet my boots that we were charming as always.